Ivywild IPA (F01-02-09-35)

Label inspiration: I was listening to Night Beds' new album Ivywild as I was brewing this beer so I searched for a cool pic on the internet that had something to do with Ivywild and I found this one...

Ivywild IPA (F01-02-09-35)

Based on the Warrior IPA recipe from Brooklyn Brew Shop

*one gallon, all-grain*

Ingredients were from Brooklyn Brew Shop and weren't "itemized". The hops were Kent Golding and Columbus. I will be adding honey for priming prior to bottling...

I added approx. 1/8 t gypsum to the boil as well as a sprinkle of Irish Moss. I DIDN’T add a touch of cinnamon to the mash, as is suggested by Charlie Papazian (I forgot).

OG: 1.059

7% ABV

Brewed beer on August 15, 2015. I did fine with the recipe except for the hop schedule- I added the second round of hops too early (45 minutes instead of 30 minutes). I wonder how that will affect the final product…we’ll see.

To help keep the pot submerged in the ice bath and not bobbing up and down and acting all crazy...

During the ice bath, I placed a 12 lb weight on top of the lid to the brew kettle so it would stay down (it was to buoyant and bobbing all over the place, not cooling down fast enough). 

I pitched at 66 degrees, a little low. I left the kettle in the ice bath too long, I suppose. It didn’t take long for the temps in the jug to hit 68 and then 70. It started bubbling before I went to bed.

August 16, 2015. Temp at 68 this morning (just like ambient temp). Blow off tube is working nicely (plenty of bubbles in the StarSan-filled loaf pan). It climbed up to 72 when I got home  around 7PM so I added another frozen water bottle to the swamp cooler.

Temps stayed in the 66-68 range for most of the week. I added a wet t-shirt to the swamp cooler (draped it over the fermenter) and it managed to keep the temps down.

Bottled beer on August 29, 2015. I used honey according to the instructions as my primer. I got almost 9 beers out of it. It seems lately that I’m only getting about 8 beers out of my one-gallon batches, which isn’t too bad except for the $15 price tag. These beers should at least be 10%ABV for that price!

August 31, 2015. Well, I just realized that I added honey as the primer, but I think I also used fermenting “fizz” drops so my beer will be super-carbonated. Niiiiiice. 

September 2, 2015. I decided to try and release some of the CO2 in the bottles today. I just used the bottle opener end of a wine opener and gently lifted the cap of each bottle up to relieve some of the pressure. I capped each one after letting the bottles sit for about 20 minutes (I think they were cracked open a bit still and releasing the CO2). I'll release more in a few days...I think there's A LOT of carbonation going on in those bottles! I don't want an explosion.

September 10, 2015. Put them in the refrigerator yesterday. They still need to settle down, but I decided to try one anyway. Carbonated like crazy! "Floaties" everywhere, beer tasted drinkable but that doesn't really mean anything. SO far, it's a bust.

September 20, 2015. Tried the last one today but I couldn't finish it. The lesson here is to use a priming calculator and double-check all recipes! I knew that cracking the caps open a little might cause oxidation or invite the nasties in...and I guess that's what happened...but I just had to try and save the batch. 

OVERALL SCORE: 3 out of 10. A few of them were decent and I think I actually drank 3/4 of one once.